Originally Posted by
JW95
I'd imagine that there is a reasonable chance of EK increasing LGW to 4 a day, but I reckon the additional rotation is more likely to be flown with the 77W, similar to the recently added LHR flight. STN is also being rumoured to go to 3 daily later this year. So they seem to be doing well in the London market
Attended the hearing of the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) on Thursday (2 May 2024) re Gatwick's application to bring its current standby / emergency runway into routine use to voice my support as an interested party living on the airport's doorstep in Crawley and listened with great interest to what Richard Jewesbury, Emirates country manager for the UK (and the Republic of Ireland as well I believe) had to say. It was very encouraging to hear him say that Emirates really values its long-standing business relationship with Gatwick which started back in 1987 when it became the first airport in Europe to which Emirates flew, that Gatwick generates both very strong and profitable outbound and inbound traffic flows, that Emirates wants more Gatwick slots, that they think the airport's proposal re its standby runway is a very smart way of making the best use of its existing facilities and that therefore they fully support it.
Nice to see a highly regarded long-haul airline recognise the value of Gatwick as a distinct catchment in its own right rather than a temporary Heathrow overflow and to fully commit to the airport for the long term. (Emirates have replicated this thinking at Stansted as well b.t.w., where its president Tim Clark has gone on record during a recent aviation industry get-together, saying that there is room for a third daily Emirates service at Stansted.) This not only makes me think that Emirates is going to revisit its pre pandemic plan to add a fourth daily Gatwick-Dubai frequency sooner rather than later, but my hope is also that more long-haul airlines will eventually come round to Emirates' point of view re Gatwick's value as a destination / point-of-origin in its own right.
IMHO, in addition to Qatar Airways, Air India is one of the airlines best-placed - over the medium to long term - to adopt Emirates' thinking on Gatwick, provided that they succeed in making India a hub for global air travel (centred on Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru) and adopt the MEB3 super connector model so successfully pioneered by Emirates over the past 15 years or so. Given that Singapore Airlines is slated to own 25.1% of Air India upon completion of the integration of Air India, Air India Express and Vistara (the Indian FSC originally established as a JV between the Tata group, the Indian tea to steel conglomerate whose founding family were the original owners of Air India and re-aqcuired the airline from the Indian government two years ago, and Singapore Airlines), my hope is also that Air India and Singapore Airlines will eventually integrate their operations along the lines of Air France - KLM, with Singapore Airlines not only contributing its Changi hub as the combined Air India - Singapore Airlines' fourth global hub, but also adopting Emirates' thinking on Gatwick.